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Limit System Resources

Is there any freeware I can use to limit my cpu?I have a low spec computer and often run several applications at once, the cpu will sometimes reach 100% and cause the applications to hang.I suspect that the applications hog more system resources than they to function adequately.I want to limit the cpu usage to about 80%

Is it possible to specify how much system resources Firefox is allowed to use ?

None that I know of for the desktop at least

Windows 2003 Server has this option but it's not a desktop OS and doesn't work well there either.

As for improving performance plug in a Video Card if you have Integrated Graphics and you'll see an enormous improvement as the CPU and System RAM are no longer generating Video they are much freer and appear to run faster, actually all that is happening is that you have cut down the load on the CPU and RAM and you are now looking at =what the system can perform at not what it was.

Also Increasing the RAM to an acceptable level like 1 GIG for XP and 2 GIG for Vista will allow the OS to run as well as it was designed to at a very low cost.

I run XP Pro on a Dual 450 P111 with 1 GIG of RAM, a 64 MEG Video Card IDE Drives and that is considerably faster than a 2.8 P4 with 512 MEG of RAM a 64 MEG Video Card and a 200 GIG SATA HDD.

Not for the CPU

RAM is a limited resource, whereas virtual memory is, for most practical purposes, unlimited. There can be a large number of processes each with its own 2 GB of private virtual address space. When the memory in use by all the existing processes exceeds the amount of RAM available, the operating system will move pages (4 KB pieces) of one or more virtual address spaces to the computer?s hard disk, thus freeing that RAM frame for other uses. In Windows systems, these ?paged out? pages are stored in one or more files called pagefile.sys in the root of a partition. There can be one such file in each disk partition. The location and size of the page file is configured in SystemProperties, Advanced, Performance (click the Settings button).

A frequently asked question is how big should I make the pagefile? There is no single answer to this question, because it depends on the amount of installed RAM and how much virtual memory that workload requires. If there is no other information available, the normal recommendation of 1.5 times the amount of RAM in the computer is a good place to start. On server systems, a common objective is to have enough RAM so that there is never a shortage and the pagefile is essentially, not used. On these systems, having a really large pagefile may serve no useful purpose. On the other hand, disk space is usually plentiful, so having a large pagefile (e.g. 1.5 times the installed RAM) does not cause a problem and eliminates the need to fuss over how large to make it.

Go to Control Panel, System Properties and take note of the amount of RAM. Now you need to make sure that the Pagefile is equal to 1.5 times the installed RAM.

Go to Control Panel, System Properties, click on Settings under Performance, click on the Advanced tab, click on Change under Virtual Memory.

Also according to M$

The VM should be set to 1.5 times to 2 times the Physical Memory but bigger doesn't hurt.

So you have a Min & Max value and if the Min is 1.5 and the Max is 2 times the available RAM you could try setting it to more. I have one Graphic Artist who is running at 3 to 6 times RAM and it's not as if they don't have enough RAM. A lot of Disc Space reserved but the system works quite well for their needs.

Try doubling the system resources from a soft level ...

I've got an old tower that serves as a digital TV and plays all my music and vids. It is powered by an aging Celeron 2.4 and the memory is crawling along on 256MB. It has never been on the 'Net. (Updates 'stolen' from my Acer laptop)

It really is a clever little piece of code: adjusting the system cache as and when needed (up and down), thereby relieving the load on the sad old Celeron by reducing the transfers to and from the pagefile

Thanks for the hint OM

I have a few P4 loaners here with only 512 MEG of RAM and they are really pitiful so much so that I've been thinking of Upping the RAM to a GIG but for things that get loaned out and never really used I've been putting it off. I'll give this a try and see what Improvement there is.

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